(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
For 50501: (On Thom Hartman Today)--The Singing Revolution That Freed the Baltic States [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-04-10
Thom and I talked about this on The Thom Hartmann Show today (at 1:44) and he really liked the idea!
While the Trump Administration holds many cards, we still have the power of our numbers, our outrage—AND we also have the power of our voices and the shared legacy of singing our patriotic songs …as the singing of God Bless America or The National Anthem at sports events still demonstrates.
Also, during the marches last weekend, the Proud Boys and 3 Percenters had a problem when the marchers began chanting their support of the Constitution, and this leads to using the same incredible tool the Baltic States used to gain their freedom from the Soviet Union: We can sing of freedom and justice with the songs they want to claim as their own. It has been done successfully before:
The Estonian Singing Revolutio n
Between 1988 and 1991, the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania used the power of song to assert and gain their freedom from their Russian overlords.
In the Baltic States, in 1988, as Glasnost in Russia was beginning to take shape under Michael Gorbachov, the Estonians and Latvians and Lithuanians took their traditions of national Chorale Contests and turned it into The Singing Revolution.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singing_Revolution
Eventually 2 Million Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians held hands and sang freedom songs in a 373-kilometer human chain—the largest one in history —and it led to the three countries eventually declaring their independence from Russia in 1991.
So, that implies that a better look and a more unifying way for 50501 and Indivisible and the many other groups of demonstrators to coordinate and harmonize their message may be to form an Indivisible Chorus , and join hands and sing...and, although we can write new protest songs, what makes the most sense (and offers inclusion to the most Americans), is to sing the songs of patriotism and honor that we grew up with:
Besides, what better media image and soundbite is there, than people of all ages and races, holding hands and singing for their freedom and democracy and for crowning “thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea”?
Here are some of those songs—with links to the songs and to the related sheet music.
1. America the Beautiful — “and crown thy good with brotherhood”
1a. Sheet Music
2. God Bless America — ‘’guide her through the night with a light from above”
2a. Sheet Music
3. The National Anthem — The Star Spangled Banner
3a. Sheet Music
4. This Land is Your Land — “This land was made for you and me..”
4a. Sheet Music
5. The Battle Hymn of the Republic — “with a kind of love and goodness that transfigures you and me…”
5a. Sheet Music
6. We Shall Overcome- Baez — “deep in my heart I do believe, we shall overcome some day.”
6a. Sheet Music
6.b History of We Shall Overcome —
7. America-- My Country ’Tis of Thee — “…Sweet land liberty. Of thee I sing.”7a. Sheet Music
8. The Pledge of Allegiance
8a. Words
More about The Singing Revolution
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Singing_Revolution
The Estonian Song Festival
Update: From This wonderful story about a gathering in Estonia on the 2002 anniversary of the Singing Revolution: An American filming a high school celebration commemorating its anniversary videoed the gymnasium and “As you can see in the video this continued until the end when I switched the camera night mode (where it turns to black and white) and you can see that every single person in the auditorium is standing, holding hands and singing.
It gives me goosebumps to this day.”
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/4/10/2315847/-The-Singing-Revolution-That-Freed-the-Baltic-States-And-May-Help-Keep-the-U-S-Free?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
